The Imperialist Imaginary: Visions of Asia and the Pacific in American Culture

by John Eperjesi

Overview

In a groundbreaking work of “New Americanist” studies, John R. Eperjesi explores the cultural and economic formation of the Unites States relationship to China and the Pacific Rim in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Eperjesi examines a variety of texts to explore the emergence of what Rob Wilson has termed the “American Pacific.”

Eperjesi shows how works ranging from Frank Norris’ The Octopus to the Journal of the American Asiatic Association, from the Socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason to the travel writings of Jack and Charmain London, and from Maxine Hong Kingston’s China Men to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon—and the cultural dynamics that produced them—helped construct the myth of the American Pacific. By construing the Pacific Rim as a unified region binding together the territorial United States with the areas of Asia and the Pacific, he also demonstrates that the logic of the imperialist imaginary suggested it was not only proper but even incumbent upon the United States to exercise both political and economic influence in the region.

As Donald E. Pease notes in his foreword, “by reading foreign policy and economic policy as literature, and by reconceptualizing works of American literature as extenuations of foreign policy and economic theory,” Eperjesi makes a significant contribution to studies of American imperialism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781611686654
Publisher:	Dartmouth College Press
Publication date:	04/01/2014
Series:	Reencounters with Colonialism: New Perspectives on the Americas
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	210
File size:	640 KB

About the Author

JOHN R. EPERJESI is a post-doctoral fellow in the English Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The American Pacific, an Errand into Oceania
Chapter One: The "Superlative and Poetry of Commerce": Scattered Origins of an American Pacific Frontier
Chapter Two: An American Pacific Jeremiad: Frank Norris's "The Octopus" and U.S. Imperialism
Chapter Three: The American Asiatic Association and the Imperialist Imaginary of the American Pacific
Chapter Four: Becoming Hawaiian: Jack London, Cultural Tourism, and the Myth of Hawiian Exceptionalism
Chapter Five: Maxine Hong's Kingston's "China Men": Frontiers of the Chinese American Pacific
Chapter Six: "Memories of a Forgotten War": A Filipino/American Ghost Story
Conclusion: Outside in the American Pacific

What People are Saying About This

Rob Wilson

"John R. Eperjesi's The Imperialist Imaginary: Visions of Asia and the Pacific in American Culture comprises a deft, field-challenging intervention into postcolonial American studies . . . Eperjesi proves a theoretically informed scholar who approaches long-standing problems of American geopolitical culture, regional definition, and global history with speculative daring, cultural sophistication, and elegant insight into the workings of economic and cultural imperialism. "
— Rob Wilson, Professor of Literature, University of California at Santa Cruz and author of Reimagining the American Pacific and American Sublime

Editorial Reviews

"This volume is a striking addition to the literature on postcolonial theory."—Choice

“Eperjesi's arguments are original and have the potential to reframe the way we think about the Pacific.”—The Journal of American History

“Eperjesi's The Imperialist Imaginary should be recognized for its contribution to the discussion of American imperialism. By bringing together disparate sources, Eperjesi has provided much needed insight into the construction of the ‘American Pacific: and the language used to facilitate its production.’"—Pacific Historical Review

“John Eperjesi's book is exemplary of the scholarly insights made possible by the New Americanist Studies. This innovative work… move[s] beyond critiques organized around the territorial space of the nation-state... This excellent study … builds upon the insights of literary theory to great advantage, demonstrating the significant contribution a truly interdisciplinary Americanist Studies can make to analyses of US imperialism… [an] innovative approach to the geography of cultural history.”—The China Review

From the Publisher